Blade Runner / FAQ / Watchdog Versions

What's Wrong With the Video Watchdog Article?

The Video Watchdog article, while extremely detailed and authoritative, contains a lot of misinformation and errors. For example:

There are only five versions seen by the public, not seven as claimed in the article.

The "Workprint" is the same as the Denver/Dallas Sneak Preview, the Fairfax Theater Cut, the UCLA showing, the Nuart Theater showing and the Castro Theater showing. The first three were in 70mm while the Nuart and Castro showings used a 35mm reduction print. The London sneak preview was probably the same as well.

Michael Arick, rather than Haver and Harris, should be credited for uncovering the workprint. Arick was certainly the most involved in bringing that print to light and making the Director's Cut.

All versions of the script had narration to some extent but Scott was not in favor of it. Scott's shooting script had about 100 words of narration, his workprint had about 50, and his Director's Cut had none.

Scott actually scripted and filmed the unicorn scene for a pre-release version of Blade Runner that was never shown outside the studio The original unicorn footage was recovered in 1992 and restored in BRDC. The persistent rumour that this footage came from Legend is hard to understand since any side-by-side comparison between the animals and settings in Legend and BRDC clearly reveals they are not the same.

The Video Watchdog description of the workprint also contains some errors.

Blade Runner

Murray Chapman